NSO Should Lose Spyware Case for Discovery Violations, Meta Says (bloomberglaw.com)
(Thursday October 03, 2024 @05:25PM (msmash)
from the tussle-continues dept.)
- Reference: 0175185409
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1612219/nso-should-lose-spyware-case-for-discovery-violations-meta-says
- Source link: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/nso-should-lose-spyware-case-for-discovery-violations-meta-says
WhatsApp and its parent Meta asked a judge to [1]award them a total win against spyware maker NSO Group as punishment for discovery violations in a years-long case accusing the Israeli company of violating anti-hacking laws. From a report:
> NSO Group violated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, repeatedly ignoring the court's orders and its discovery obligations, according to a motion for sanctions filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. "NSO's discovery violations were willful, and unfairly skew the record on virtually every key issue in the case, from the merits, to jurisdiction, to damages, making a full and fair trial on the facts impossible," they said. Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton should award the companies judgment as a matter of law or, "if the court finds that the limited discovery produced in this case does not suffice," enter default judgment against NSO, WhatsApp and Meta wrote.
>
> The social media platforms first [2]filed their complaint in October 2019 , accusing NSO of using WhatsApp to install NSO spyware on the phones of about 1,400 WhatsApp users.
The move follows Apple asking a court last month to [3]dismiss its three-year-old hacking lawsuit against spyware pioneer NSO Group, arguing that it might never be able to get the most critical files about NSO's Pegasus surveillance tool and that its own disclosures could aid NSO and its increasing number of rivals.
[1] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/nso-should-lose-spyware-case-for-discovery-violations-meta-says
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/19/10/29/2032239/facebook-sues-israels-nso-group-over-alleged-whatsapp-hack
[3] https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/09/13/1731255/apple-seeks-to-drop-its-lawsuit-against-israeli-spyware-pioneer-nso
> NSO Group violated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, repeatedly ignoring the court's orders and its discovery obligations, according to a motion for sanctions filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. "NSO's discovery violations were willful, and unfairly skew the record on virtually every key issue in the case, from the merits, to jurisdiction, to damages, making a full and fair trial on the facts impossible," they said. Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton should award the companies judgment as a matter of law or, "if the court finds that the limited discovery produced in this case does not suffice," enter default judgment against NSO, WhatsApp and Meta wrote.
>
> The social media platforms first [2]filed their complaint in October 2019 , accusing NSO of using WhatsApp to install NSO spyware on the phones of about 1,400 WhatsApp users.
The move follows Apple asking a court last month to [3]dismiss its three-year-old hacking lawsuit against spyware pioneer NSO Group, arguing that it might never be able to get the most critical files about NSO's Pegasus surveillance tool and that its own disclosures could aid NSO and its increasing number of rivals.
[1] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/nso-should-lose-spyware-case-for-discovery-violations-meta-says
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/19/10/29/2032239/facebook-sues-israels-nso-group-over-alleged-whatsapp-hack
[3] https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/09/13/1731255/apple-seeks-to-drop-its-lawsuit-against-israeli-spyware-pioneer-nso
Help! (Score:1)
by Black Parrot ( 19622 )
Will someone tell me who we're supposed to root for?
Re: (Score:1)
by iAmWaySmarterThanYou ( 10095012 )
You're the lamb sitting with 2 lions who are deciding what to have for lunch.
You'll get a vote, though, so don't worry, it'll be a very democratic decision.
Re: Help! (Score:2)
by drinkypoo ( 153816 )
It's more of a case of who to root against, and the answer is everyone as there are no heroes in this story, only a big villain and a bigger villain. Which is which? Who cares?
Terrorists (Score:1)
by Bahbus ( 1180627 )
The NSO Group and Israeli government are terrorists - no different than Russia, Iran, or Hamas.
I can only hope that everyone who has ever worked for, worked with, or rooted for NSO Group has all their loved ones slowly murdered in front of their eyes.
NSO ? (Score:3)
An israeli company. Good luck with that. What are the odds that the case will be filed away under some national security reasons ?
Re: (Score:1)
> An israeli company.
Israel has enough of a presence in the US - and billions of dollars in foreign aid going there every year - that, in theory, any judgement could be collected. In theory.
> Good luck with that.
> What are the odds that the case will be filed away under some national security reasons ?
That, on the other hand, is the real issue.
Re: NSO ? (Score:1, Informative)
Already happened. The discovery violations Meta is talking about are: when NSO got sued, they went to the Israeli gov and said 'Save us!' and the Israeli gov used some rule to prohibit NSO from disclosing information to the case.